5th Annual Valentine’s Day Women’s Memorial March

Thursday, February 14, 2013, will mark Calgary’s 5th Annual Valentine’s Day Women’s Memorial March. The event will take place at Scarboro United Church and will begin at 6:30pm with speeches. A march and light meal will follow.

The Memorial March works to raise awareness and inspire change in regards to violence against women.

Although gendered violence affects all women, Indigenous women face compounded and unique risks. The Valentine’s Day Women’s Memorial March planning committee has shared the following facts:

A vast majority of Indigenous women have been assaulted. Violence may have begun while at residential school or by parents whose souls were damaged by the residential school experience of rape, physical abuse, and cultural genocide. Violence continues into adulthood, ranging from 48% to up to 90% of Indigenous women being assaulted at the hands of their partners, depending on the community in which they live.

Indigenous women also experience racially-motivated attacks and are harassed on the streets by the public and police in far greater numbers than non-Indigenous women.

Indigenous women are five times more likely to die because of violence than any other group of women in Canada.

Unlike most women who are at a greater risk of being assaulted by an intimate partner, Indigenous women are equally at risk of being assaulted by a stranger– this is a clear indication of the racist and sexist underpinnings of violence against Indigenous women.

Because of the continuing effects of the Indian Act, Indigenous women face insecurities related to housing, employment and access to services both on and off reserve, leaving them more vulnerable to violence.

If you would like to attend the event with the Women’s Centre please meet us at Scarboro United Church, 134 Scarboro Ave SW, at 6:20pm. Contact Leah at 403-264-1155 or Leah@womenscentrecalgary.org for more information.

Please visit the Calgary Transit Website for your transit options. If you are taking the C-train, the new Sunalta Station is nearby.

From the Sunalta C-Train Station: Walk west on 10th Avenue SW towards 16th Street SW. Turn left on 16th Street and then right on 15th Avenue (after the tennis courts). Scarboro United is at the top of the hill on the left hand side.

For more information about the 5th Annual Valentine’s Day Women’s Memorial march, please contact the organizers at: memorialmarchcalgary@live.ca